Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters 2 cancelled, TV series coming

The sequel to Tommy Wirkola’s Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters has been trundling along in development since its early 2013 release. A director had recently been hired in Bruno Aveillan, but the question of whether or not Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton would return was still up in the air.

Now, it’s all change.

Deadline reports that the sequel has been scrapped. Instead, Hansel & Gretel will continue their witch hunting adventures on television. The plan is that it will stay at Paramount through their TV production company, and Will Ferrell and Adam McKay’s Gary Sanchez Productions will remain involved.

Presumably, this means that we’ll be looking at new actors for the two leads. Given that scheduling made their return for a movie sequel tricky at best, it seems unlikely that they’ll clear room for a weekly show.

Although it only made $55 million from a $50 million budget in the US, the film grossed over $170 million internationally, hence the interest in exploring the characters further.